Wayray moves employees from Russia to Switzerland

Written in black and white in the Swiss Official Journal of Business (SHAB): Wayray AG company in Zurich has been in debt restructuring moratorium since 5 January 2023. This is planned for six months, the manager is appointed.

The tech company has made headlines multiple times in recent years. The core products of the start-up are technologies that provide augmented reality experiences for the automotive industry. For example, holographic navigation instructions that are displayed across the entire windshield and can be seen regardless of sight.

This cutting-edge technology attracts investors. So far, Wayray has raised $100 million in investor funds. Prominent financiers include automakers Porsche and Hyundai as strategic lead investors. Or Chinese IT company Alibaba or Japanese consumer electronics company JVC-Kenwood. Wayray currently has 250 employees at locations in Switzerland, Russia, Ukraine, China and the USA.

So what happened?

Employees are relocated

Important to understand: A debt restructuring moratorium is not the same as bankruptcy. This is given by the court if there is a payment difficulty and a concordat agreement will be made with the creditors. Definite suspension in this case means Wayray is protected from enforcement action by creditors. The company may use its assets only to a limited extent and the company is not allowed to sell all or individual assets. However, the work will continue in principle.

When asked by company founder Vitaly Ponomarev (33) Blick, he explained that the company is healthy and work will continue as normal. Jobs are not in danger. “We have not filed for bankruptcy, but we are in creditor protection procedure,” Ponomarev says. And: “We wanted someone proactively to deal with the consequences of war.”

The debt restructuring moratorium application was submitted to the canton only to avoid potential problems with creditors. Such a situation may have arisen as Wayray is currently busy relocating its employees in Russia and Ukraine to its Zurich and Barcelona locations. “We hope to complete this process in the first quarter of 2023,” says Ponomarev.

Also interesting in this context: Ponomarev has been listed on the SOGC as a Moldovan rather than a Russian citizen since April 2022.

The young entrepreneur is confident that his company will revolutionize the automotive industry on screens. Market research firm Data Intelo predicts that the augmented reality market in the automotive industry will grow by 30 percent per year until 2026. But there is also a lot of competition. For example, Mercedes has been offering augmented reality on the windshield for some time now.